August 17th, 2008
I stumbled blindly along the corroded, ancient asphalt line. It had been ages since an actual motor vehicle had been driven down the crumbling lanes. It had been ages since a motor vehicle had been driven, period.
Little tornadoes of desert dust devils whipped and tore around me, blasting my face and eyes. I tried to keep my body covered, clinging my long cloak to me desperately. The air was hot and dry. Tears from my tormented eyes streaked tracks of mud along my cheeks. My lips felt blistered. I was parched, and my tongue felt as if I had been drinking of the dirt swirling around me.
I had been walking for days- days which felt like centuries. My feet were blistered and sore, and the soles of my shoes wore almost completely off. Luckily, my tunic and pants were in reasonably good condition, and my cloak had a large hood which kept most of the dirt and wind off of me. Except for my poor, poor eyes. How I longed for a pair of goggles, but my last pair had broken in a fall a few weeks ago.
The wind began to whip particularly harsh around me, and I stumbled back and forth across the black top. I clenched my wrap close to me, and covered my face, letting my feet carry me forward. At some point I must have left the road, for when I felt the barage slacken enough to look, I could see no trace of it, and searching for footprints was a laughable thought. I stood, unsure of which way to go, and angry with myself for not paying more attention. It wasn’t that the road honestly led somewhere. But it at least gave me a direction, and something to follow. A way to know that I wasn’t just spinning myself in circles.
I stood and closed my eyes, breathing deeply (but covered, so as not to burn my sinuses with snorting up dust!). I searched to center myself, and pick a direction to go. I knew I would not be going back the way I came, for the faint glow of the sun still shone like an old dusty lantern in the sky. I had been walking towards it before the bad swirl, so I knew I wasn’t that far off.